Free Republic

“Early retirement” is a strange way to describe a 44-year-old’s acceptance of a new government role, but for Mikk Marran, Estonia’s spymaster, it feels a lot like that. As of next month he will no longer helm Välisluureamet, the Baltic state’s foreign intelligence service, which, long before Vladimir Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine, was at the forefront of assessing the threats and capabilities of a resurgent and revanchist Russia.(snip) According to one former high-ranking U.S. intelligence officer, “Estonia punches far above its weight on Russian affairs. The respect for Marran and his service in the U.S. intelligence community is quite...

that threatens to cut off annexed peninsula from Putin's reinforcements A huge explosion has hit the only bridge between Crimea and Russia, a crucial supply line for Putin's forces Footage shows the blast following the rail bridge engulfed in flames and the road bridge next to it collapsed The cause of the explosion is not known but Ukraine has been targeting Russian logistics in recent weeks Footage appears to show a truck exploding on the road section of the bridge as sabotage is suspected A crucial bridge linking Russia and Ukraine has caught fire in a spectacular explosion in a...

According to Yanushevich, Ukrainian strikes have completely decommissioned almost all the major bridges in the region - Antonivskyi (road and railway), as well as the Nova Kakhovka Dam Bridge. “As a result of these actions, the Russian army was cut off from the supply of weapons and personnel from the territory of Crimea and the left-bank part of Kherson Oblast,” Yanushevich explained. He also confirmed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have launched an offensive in all directions in southern Ukraine, but added that the authorities can only provide official information from the military. “We must remain calm and not...

Breaking: The Kerch Bridge, which connects occupied Crimea to Russia, is on fire.

The Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsular, has been hit by a massive explosion on the span that carries railway traffic. Images from the bridge showed a fiercely burning fire engulfing at least two railway carriages from a train on the bridge, accompanied by a vast column of black smoke. The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard kilometres away, took place around 6am on Saturday while a train was crossing the bridge, although it was not immediately clear what caused it. Some images appeared to show a...

This is a short video on the Crimean Bridge on which there as the tanker fire. There appears to have been a span of the bridge which collapsed. To just have to go to the first few seconds at the linked video to see a picture of the dropped span. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npIRfEQM2kw

What is Britain’s interest in Ukraine? Why are we shovelling weapons and equipment into that country, despite the fact that our national budget is stretched to bursting and our own armed forces have for many years been starved of money, men and kit? If we were a proper open society, surely this question would be asked all the time. But it is not. So I am asking it now, as the Ukraine war threatens to ignite the whole of Europe and has already brought us closer to actual nuclear warfare than we have ever been.

JUST IN - Russia's Putin and Defense Minister Shoigu are expected to address the nation tonight, according to Kremlin pool reporters.

Could Russia still fight NATO? The war in Ukraine has proved catastrophic for the Russian military thus far. In almost seven months of war, the Russian forces have suffered one humiliating defeat after another, losing tens of thousands of troops in the process and thousands of pieces of equipment. As a result, the capabilities of the Russian military have been seriously degraded, and Moscow’s ability to fight the U.S. and NATO has been dramatically degraded.

The strategy behind Ukraine’s rapid military gains in recent days began to take shape months ago during a series of intense conversations between Ukrainian and U.S. officials about the way forward in the war against Russia, according to American officials. The counteroffensive — revised this summer from its original form after urgent discussions between senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials — has succeeded beyond most predictions. Ukrainian forces have devastated Russian command and control, and appear poised to capitalize on their advances in the northeast of the country and in another campaign in the south. The work began soon after President...

For Russia, the numbers are catastrophic. From Wednesday to Sunday, Vladimir Putin’s military forces saw at least 338 pieces of important military hardware – from fighter jets to tanks to trucks – destroyed, damaged or captured, according to numbers from the open source intelligence website Oryx, as Ukraine’s forces have bolted through Russian-held territory in an offensive that has stunned the Russians in its speed and breadth. Ukraine’s top military commander claimed on Sunday that more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) of territory had been retaken by his country’s forces since the beginning of September. And for more...

Government appears to turn blind eye to sale, opting not to torpedo deal for ‘advanced defensive technology’ that Defense Ministry has barred companies from supplying to Kyiv. An Israeli defense contractor is supplying anti-drone systems to Ukraine’s military by way of Poland, The Times of Israel’s Hebrew sister site Zman Yisrael reported Monday. A source in the firm told Zman that the equipment was being sold to Poland to circumvent Israel’s refusal to sell advanced arms to Ukraine. The company reported to the Defense Ministry that the sale was to Poland and appeared to be claiming not to be aware...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and former Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard have been listed by Ukraine among a number of American politicians, academics and activists Kyiv claims have promoted "Russian propaganda." The list was compiled by the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, founded in 2021 by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to study the impact of Russian disinformation. The center is part of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council. The list—which also includes retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas Macgregor, military strategist Edward Luttwak, political scientist John Mearsheimer and journalist Glenn Greenwald—does not explain what the consequences are for those who Ukraine clearly...

The Russian army is losing at least a battalion’s worth of vehicles and men daily as twin Ukrainian counteroffensives roll back Russian territorial gains in eastern and southern Ukraine. That’s hundreds of casualties and scores of vehicle write-offs every day. These losses catastrophic for Russia. Russian army barely was sustaining a little over 100 under-strength battalions in Ukraine before Kyiv’s forces counterattacked in south on Aug. 30 and in the east eight days later. In under two weeks of brutal fighting, the Ukrainians have destroyed, badly damaged or captured 1,200 Russian tanks, fighting vehicles, trucks, helicopters, warplanes and drones, according...